First things first:
- The four most common writing types are Planners, Freewriters, Draft Writers, and Patchworkers.
- It is useful to know your own writing habits and preferences to make the writing process easier.
Writing the first term paper has caused sleepless nights for many students. It’s not just choosing a topic and conducting research that are infamous time and motivation drainers—writing itself can quickly become overwhelming under time pressure. Have you ever received tips from classmates who seem to breeze through writing but found them impossible to apply? Do you struggle with writing even when following guides and advice step by step? Can you spend hours staring at a blank page without managing to write a single sentence? If so, take a step back and figure out what type of writer you are. Once you understand your own writing habits, you’ll see why certain tips and strategies don’t work for you. Instead, you’ll be able to make better use of the strengths and weaknesses of your particular writing style.
What is a writing type anyway?
There are almost as many types of writers as there are recipes for potato salad. Everyone who writes has their own unique style and approach. However, there are patterns that apply to many people at once. Take a moment to observe yourself while writing: What works well, and what doesn’t work at all?
To give you an initial overview, we’ll introduce you to four ideal types of writers. You’ll likely recognize yourself in one or more of them.
Planners
Before Planners begin writing a text, they thoroughly think through the topic, content, and structure in their minds. They organize all the notes they’ve taken during their research, assigning them to specific chapters. This process often goes so far that they fully formulate their thoughts mentally before writing them down. Naturally, Planners progress systematically from chapter to chapter, and the idea of jumping to another chapter just because a thought occurs to them would never cross their minds.
What works well:
- Planners stick to the common thread and hardly digress.
- They always have an overview and know exactly what they are getting at at all times.
- Time pressure is therefore not a problem for them, and they have also divided up their work sensibly and effectively.
- Working with co-authors is also very successful, as the planners can give them the structure.
What is less successful:
- The planners are not very flexible and not open to new ideas that deviate from the structure they have already created in their heads.
- Planning can take too much time, leaving less time for the actual writing process.
- Planners will also not achieve quick results, as their way of approaching an issue requires a lot of preparation.
- Empirical studies or new research results in their field can challenge planners to change research results while they are still writing – they don’t cope well with such situations.
As a planner, these tips can help you:
- Deviating from the rigid structure ingrained in your mind: Methods like freewriting can help you let go and encourage spontaneity.
- Overly meticulous structuring and planning can lead to endless procrastination when it comes to actual writing: Stick to bullet points and trust that you’ve internalized the outline. Additionally, set yourself a deadline for planning and a start date for writing.
- Write down any thoughts that come to mind spontaneously, even if you’re not sure where they fit yet. It helps to carry a notebook with you or use the notes app on your smartphone to ensure these ideas aren’t lost.
Go-ahead writers
Go-ahead writers are the exact opposite of Planners. They don’t need a pre-constructed outline; instead, they dive straight into the blank document, letting the structure emerge as they write. New ideas often come to them during the writing process, so they frequently keep a second document open to jot down these thoughts. Go-ahead writers can quickly produce a lot of text because they rarely struggle to figure out what they want to say. Only after they’re done do they organize their work and cut out sections where they’ve strayed too far from the topic.
What works well:
- Go-ahead writers write down their ideas at any time (e.g. with a notebook).
- They write quickly and a lot of text, which has a motivating effect.
- They trust in their inspirations and spontaneously give their text a different direction when necessary.
- Writing itself is a free and carefree process.
What is less successful:
- Go-ahead writers easily digress from the topic because of the many ideas.
- The revision takes more time than for planners
- The common thread can easily be lost.
- (Strict) content and structural requirements hinder them.
- By focusing on the content and writing quickly, spelling and grammatical errors creep in more often.
As a go-ahead writer, these tips can help you:
- A rough outline before the actual writing process can help to organize erratic thoughts. You can also give your sections headings as you write to structure them for later revision.
- Keep an eye on your research questions and don’t lose sight of the common thread.
- It is also helpful to have a rough schedule so that you can set priorities. Don’t forget to allow enough time for the revision.
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Version writers
Every text by Version Writers is initially just a preliminary draft. They rewrite their texts — or at least entire sections — multiple times, gradually working their way toward the final version of their work.
What works well:
- Version writers start writing early because, like the go-ahead writers, they don’t spend much time planning.
- They write a lot of text quickly.
- The different versions often result from different perspectives on the topic – this allows them to approach the actual core message of his work and focus on it.
What is less successful:
- Due to the different versions, it is easy to lose track.
- Version writers do not work well under time pressure.
- Discarding a text and looking for errors over and over again can be frustrating.
- Version writers tend to overcorrect and sometimes even make things worse.
- They are often very unsure about the quality of their texts, which can lead to writer’s block.
As a version writer, these tips can help you:
- Summarize your topic, the research questions, and the result on one page and send it to a person for review. This will give you a good idea of whether you’re on the right track.
- Always keep an eye on the common thread and don’t get lost in trivialities when writing and revising them.
- Plan a lot of time (preferably half) of the entire work process for writing from the outset.
- Before each revision, critically check whether it really makes sense (in terms of content). Version writers have a strong tendency towards perfectionism.
Patchwork writers
Patchwork Writers jump back and forth between different chapters as they write. If necessary, they’ll even interrupt their flow to follow a thought that advances another part of the text. Planning a specific order would only hold them back. By constantly redirecting their thoughts across various chapters, they create text in multiple sections simultaneously while also avoiding writer’s block. If they get stuck on one part, they can seamlessly move on to another. Their work takes on structure in a second step, once the rough draft is complete.
What works well:
- Writer’s block is the exception for patchwork writers.
- They write what they feel like doing at the moment – this way they avoid frustration.
- Patchwork writers are capable of multitasking and can accommodate complex content well in their way of working.
- They can always incorporate spontaneous ideas into their texts.
What is less successful:
- Parts of text that they don’t like they put off for a long time.
- Patchwork writers can easily lose track of things and, like version writers, tend to make frequent revisions .
- By writing down their thoughts in leaps and bounds, they also tend not to complete chains of argumentation.
- This also leads to the fact that they quickly become careless and text sections arise that seem to have no context.
- At the same time, there is a risk that patchwork writers will repeat themselves in several passages while forgetting other aspects.
As a patchwork writer, these tips can help you:
- Organize and format your text in a way that makes it easy to find your way around (e.g., through headings).
- Take time to weigh arguments against each other. This will help you avoid logical errors in your work.
- Go through your text chronologically from time to time while writing and check whether the common thread is still recognizable.
- Write down the most important points and questions that should appear in your work in a separate document and check regularly whether you have already taken them into account.
- Make sure that your way of working does not become an avoidance strategy and take the time to think through even more unpopular passages thoroughly.
So how do you find your writing type and what does this knowledge bring you?
As you can see, all writing types have their strengths and weaknesses and are effective in their own way. You don’t need to force yourself to follow guides for structured writing if you identify more as a go-ahead writer. Your writing type is closely linked to your personality and, in most cases, is firmly established by the age of 25 — switching to a different type is therefore quite difficult. But that’s okay: there’s no right or wrong way to write.
Do you recognize yourself in one or more of these writing types? No? Then try writing differently from what you’re used to — perhaps with a short essay. Analyze your writing habits. Do you have rituals that you can’t really get on with at all and that make your work more difficult than easier? In school, we are often taught that the structured, planning style is the only “correct” way to write, while Patchworkers and go-ahead writers are forced to abandon their natural writing habits. This often leads to frustration, ultimately causing those who aren’t Planners to lose their passion for writing. By the time their first term paper is due, they face what feels like an impossible task. So, trust your gut: Do you feel like diving in without an outline? Go for it! If that approach doesn’t work, try another method until you find the writing style that suits you best.
Take another close look at the advantages and disadvantages of the writing types you identify with the most. Ideally, you can adapt your strategy for writing a term paper based on these insights.
You can even overcome writer’s block by trying out a different writing style. Perhaps Patchwork Writing suits you better than Version Writing? Be open to strategies that might seem to contradict your natural writing style, and most importantly: don’t give up! With consistent practice, you can develop a writing routine that eases your fear of tackling term papers or your final thesis.
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